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The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ), and World Steel Exchange Marketing, LLC (WSEM), founded by World Steel Dynamics (WSD) in 2009, today announced a strategic partnership to develop financially settled steel and steel scrap futures products to be traded on the NASDAQ OMX Futures Exchange, Inc. (NFX). This strategic partnership will help the steel industry better manage steel price risk, with a world-class trading platform and a complement of steel futures products. The products are expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2013 following filing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
These new futures contracts will be financially-settled monthly against WSEM's SteelBenchmarker™ Pricing System and listed on NFX, a public futures exchange which gives institutional investors an efficient and secure way to trade steel. Transparent and regular pricing will allow market participants to manage their risk on short-, medium- and long-term contracts. Investors interested in exchange-traded steel futures will benefit from a forward price curve to judge hedging opportunities, which also allows for timing flexibility on forward price commitments. NFX will offer improved contact performance with no defaults on exchange cleared trading.
"We are pleased to create a steel futures marketplace with NASDAQ OMX that, when properly harnessed, will help steel mills enhance profit margins and steel buyers achieve competitive advantages," said Peter Marcus, Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of World Steel Exchange Marketing.
"We bring unparalleled industry relationships; deep regional and global marketplace knowledge; hands on applications expertise; best practice benchmarking, awareness of what causes sleepless nights for steel buyers and sellers, robust price indices and a deep love for the industry and all of those with whom we interact," Marcus added.
After the launch of the initial U.S. steel futures products, NFX will continue to expand its offering with additional products, such as European and world export market steel futures.
"As we expand our footprint in the derivatives space, our U.S. futures platform will allow NASDAQ OMX to offer member firms new trading opportunities in various products, including metals," said Eric Noll, Executive Vice President of Transaction Services U.S. and U.K. at NASDAQ OMX.
"We're thrilled to partner with WSEM as we look to develop a robust product suite of steel futures which leverages our INET trading platform and the NASDAQ OMX Data Center for efficient execution across asset classes," said Daniel Carrigan, President of NFX.
For more information about NFX, please visit the website below:
